A German man has canned the noxious-smelling exhaust fumes of East Germany's cult Trabant car and is doing a brisk trade selling the scent to those nostalgic for the former Communist state.

"The smell is something very special and scarce nowadays," said Thorsten Jahn, whose cans of "Trabi" exhaust sell online for 3.98 euros ($4.81).

"I wanted to preserve the past in an original way."

Fifteen years since reunification, nostalgia for East Germany has been running strong as rosy memories of the communist state's social safety nets, holiday camps and quaint consumer products like the tiny, box-like Trabants increasingly eclipse its negative aspects.

A friend of Jahn produced 1,800 cans in four days by holding pieces of cotton wool into the exhaust pipe of his Trabi.

Jahn said that inhaling the scent would pose no danger as the cotton wool filtered out toxic particles.

People in the former German Democratic Republic usually had to wait for years for the delivery of a Trabant. Many that remain on the road are often customized with bigger engines, convertible roofs and eye-catching paintwork.